Pokemon, Light Between Worlds
by GalaxianDragon
Summary: After meeting with a mysterious girl named Moon, Champion Sun becomes part of another struggle of emotions. With what little memory she has, Moon seeks training and assistance from Sun. They form a bond while meeting new people and having fun with familiar faces. However, a distant threat draws ever closer. Sequel to Light is Reflected by the Distant White.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. The cover image was done by xXArtistic14Xx from Deviantart.

"Speech"

'Thought'

* * *

It was dark.

No, it wasn't darkness. It was nothingness. The distance that could be felt from something important. Yet, this being didn't falter. Its persistence had yet to fade.

A light tore through the nothingness. A reward?

Sun stared back in disbelief at what he was seeing, or rather who he was seeing. First, a Pokemon that was very similar to Nebby appeared. And now a girl alongside it claimed that it was also named Nebby.

"So, Moon, you also named your Pokemon Nebby?" Asked the young boy.

Moon didn't answer, her face was painted with fear. This hindering sensation must have transferred over to the lion Pokemon because it backed away to her.

"How do you know Nebby's name?" Questioned the girl.

"Because this is also Nebby." Casually, Sun pointed over to his Lunala.

"No, that can't be. There's only one Nebby," retorted Moon with fear still present in her eyes.

Everything she was saying was strange to him thus far. Luckily for Sun, her outfit didn't make her seem too strange. A baggy floral shirt, green shorts, and black and red shoes made her seem very normal. The only things that made her appear peculiar was her Glover World-looking hat, the black z-ring she had on, and the marks on her.

Scratches and bruises were spread across her face and the rest of body. A quick glance at the white lion revealed that it had suffered quite a beating as well.

Then, her expression burst with surprise. She and both Nebbys turned their attention away from Sun. A slow backwards trot towards Sun indicated something that was amiss.

"No...no," muttered Moon with paralyzing terror.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Uncooperative silence was all he got. The tension in the atmosphere was rising faster and faster, as if they were stalked by a psychopath.

Sun could feel this tension and started to become concerned himself. Flying away instead of fighting on appealed more to him at the moment, but he had no idea where they were.

There was still one thing they could do to solve the situation.

"Nebby, teleport us all," commanded the boy.

The Lunala quickly understood what to do; it grabbed Sun and Moon in one wing and the lion's tail with the other. A flash of light signaled their departure from the area.

An air coated with disappointment lingered. There was truly something awry.

Nebby had always known how to teleport great distances. It had even learned how to master it to the point of mimicking Goku's instant transmission Kamehameha.

However, a situation of emergency made it hard to focus.

The entire gang landed on the beach next to Hano Grand Resort, save for the Lunala. Moon grunted in pain from landing on her side.

"Ita...baka," muttered the girl begrudgingly.

Critical thoughts turned to pure concern when she saw her Nebby lying on it's side. A blue light of that astral face could do little to hide the immense pain. She quickly whipped out a friend ball and recalled her Pokémon.

"I promise you that I won't let them hurt you," whispered Moon to the pokeball.

Sun had to give himself some credit for the quick thinking out of that situation. However, it would just be easier if it was done with more grace.

'Then my head wouldn't be stuck,' rationalized the child as he tried to pull his head out of the sand.

His Nebby floated over and pulled him out by his leg; sand poured out of his mouth, and his hat fell off.

"Thanks, Nebby." He noticed that Moon was holding a ride pager up in the air. "Hey, where are you going?"

Moon spun around, her face dripping with distrust and anger.

"Stay away from me," said the girl. Nebby placed Sun back on his feet; he readjusted his hat before retorting.

"You're welcome for saving you." He was becoming irritated with her cooperation that now turned into hostility.

Again, the strange girl didn't say anything. Rejection and anger dominated her where fear and paralysis once occupied.

"You could at least say something." That sentence finally got her to spin her head towards him, showing eyes filled with anger.

"I won't let you get anywhere near Nebby," stated Moon, suddenly resolved for protection.

Confused, Sun took a few steps forward; perhaps he said something that really offended her Pokemon? Distance remained consistent as Moon chose to keep hers, flinching from occasional pain.

The damage she bore aspired sympathy in the boy. Leaving somebody in this state was simply wrong to him.

Not only that, but her behavior reminded him of how he felt just a few short weeks ago. So consistently angry that he couldn't function.

He had become placated enough to offer her some help.

"You're hurt. Please let me help you," requested Sun.

"I'm fine."

Convincing her of his disposition would require more than concerned wording. She made this prevalent when her hand met Sun's stomach, forcing him into the sand.

Inflicting more pain would have occurred, but a dark purple wing impeded her path. Moon followed it up to the fierce and protective eyes of a Lunala. Irony slapped her in the face as she was halted by that determination.

For a moment, she felt like she was about to be attacked.

"You hit hard for somebody who looks beat up," said Sun from the other side of the wing. "Nebby, it's alright."

The Legendary Pokemon clung to reluctance, but it relented. It removed it's wing so that Moon and Sun could see each other properly.

Forgiveness was offered with the boy's neutral expression.

"I...I'm sorry," apologized the mysterious girl with her head to the ground. Nebby's gaze was incredibly effective.

"It's ok." Sun brushed himself off and stood back up. "Will you let me help you now?"

She nodded slowly to that gesture of kindness.

A few bandages and ointments later and Moon was opening up a little to Sun. Some of her cautiousness lingered still, but she was now trusting him enough to explain some things.

"So you got Nebby from somebody important too?" She nodded yet again.

"I don't want to say who they are. Everything is just so messed up right now," explained the brunette girl.

Choking in her voice was faint. There was no doubt that she was indeed a strong girl because of her determination to fight back against the emotional reaction.

To properly lend aide, Sun would need to know more about how this happening. He would need to be gentle given her current state.

"Can you at least tell me how you got like this? What attacked you and your Nebby so badly?"

"It...it came out of nowhere." She was slow to start. "It was so powerful. It knew everything that Nebby and I were going to do. We had no chance."

"What did it look like?" Moon shuffled around her sides. Answering that was very difficult.

A possible manner came to her. She placed her hand into the sand and began to draw a shape. The result of her sketch was a diamond-shaped being with big arms and tiny legs.

'Wait a minute...' Memories clicked together for Sun in his head. He glanced over to Nebby, who shared a similarly astonished expression.

This was Necrozma, the same Pokemon that they fought several weeks ago Rotom would have been very helpful at the moment if he was around.

Any information that they would have had at the moment could've helped them to understand why Necrozma had attacked. Leaving that Pokemon back at the house wasn't the best idea

"So you got attacked by that black Pokemon?" Inquired Sun carefully. Moon shot her nervous eyes over.

"No, it was dark blue. Did you fight one?" A slow nod confirmed that.

Sand was briskly pushed around. Moon placed herself closer to Sun in some odd manner of desperation. Nebby blinked a few times at how awkward this looked.

"Then, please help me," begged the girl softly.

"Eh?" Sun wasn't so sure what the normal attitude for this girl was supposed to be like.

Bashfully trying to avoid him came first, then she tried to hurt him in a fit of anger, she fell apart when Nebby stopped her, and now she was just begging him for help. Unquestionably, this girl was strange.

The first idea of what this help she needed would be was being a body guard.

Fulfilling a new role like that was most certainly out of the question. Poor Sun was already spending so much time as the Champion.

However, he couldn't bring himself to just deny her.

"Alright. What do you need?" Questioned the boy as he scooted some distance. Moon realized how uncomfortable that must have been before muttering an apology.

"Well...if it's not to much, could you protect us for a while?"

The exact chord that Sun didn't want to hear struck. "Sorry, I can't do that."

A gravity of sadness held Moon down. Initially, she was sad that he wouldn't help her, but then she was sad with her own demand. It would be incredibly selfish to ask somebody to devote so much time to her.

And that's not even accounting for the fact that she just met Sun.

"No. It's alright," said the girl to continue the conversation. "That was rude."

A nod of Sun's head showed his acceptance.

"I still want to help you out, though."

"Alright. Well..." The girl's brown eyes moved around the area. They halted when they caught sight of Sun's Nebby.

Standing up, she walked over to the Moone Pokemon almost mindlessly. Both trainer and Pokemon noted this peculiar behavior.

Gazing at the purple wings, she couldn't help but get lost in them. Unintentional comfort was shrouded in them. Breaking away from her gaze, she faced Sun.

"Then, can you train me and my Pokemon?"

Blinking a few times, Sun wondered if he understood that right. The request was not dripping with desperation or selfishness. It felt more genuine than those. As if she truly wanted it.

"I'm confused," stated the boy blatantly.

"Well, I used to be a good trainer and all, but I got lazy." A shift of her position turned her back to Nebby. "If you were able to train this Pokemon and fight that other one, you must be strong."

Flattery would usually get a person everywhere with somebody like Sun; he was still a kid and lacked much of the humility and patience necessary to be a Pokemon Master. However, this time was different.

Training Moon and her team would obviously drain a lot of time out of him. Being a teacher was also not something that he was truly suited for either. A conflict of interests, thoughts, and emotions stirred inside of the Champion's head because of the reasons to comply.

'Maybe she could help me get stronger,' thought the boy.

He also couldn't shake the fact that he remembered a very similar situation. Lillie and his Nebby.

"Alright, I guess I can help you on that," answered Sun. A gracious grin gleamed Moon's face.

"Th...thank you. That means a lot to me." Gleam from her face reflected off of her new teacher.

"First, let's get your Pokemon healed up." There was no arguing with that statement.

Sun retrieved Nebby to leave the scene with Moon. Once they reached the Pokemon Center and healed Moon's team, the time became much more prevalent. Orange was dimming the sky to dusk.

Nothing in Alola could pose a threat to the Champion in the day or the night. His new student was not in the same boat, however. An attack from Necrozma would be much more problematic both at night and if he wasn't around with her.

"Hey. Why don't I walk you home?" Offered the boy politely. Moon chuckled at the inadvertent double implication of his offer.

"You sound like you're my boyfriend." Her statement put a little red on his face. "But that's sweet of you. Let's do that."

Sun quickly brushed away his fluster. "Ok, where do you live?"

Happiness accompanied compliance on Moon's face, she was sure to provide an answer. However, she found herself caught without one.

That gracious grin turned into a concerned frown. She raised her hand to her head in an effort to pull any memory from her mind. It was so foggy when she actually started to search through it.

A response like that was too hard for Sun to miss. "What's wrong?"

"I can't remember where my home is."

A heavy silence dragged everything down. Helping this girl started to feel like an emergency for Sun.

"You can't remember?" Asked the boy anxiously.

"No...I mean...I don't know. Everything is just so foggy."

Sun attempted to calm himself to properly assess the situation. His training and nerves he gained through intense battles along his journey made cooling his mind possible.

"Ok, can you tell me about the stuff around where you live?"

"Yeah. I can try," responded the girl. She was calmed a little by his careful approach. "It is...by a cliff...on Melemele Island."

Diffusing the situation was most certainly easier to do once Sun crossed the first hurdle. It was also peculiar how quickly the Champion panicked when Moon failed to bring her memories to the surface.

'I guess she's really grown on me,' thought the boy as he glanced at her. A glance that didn't go unnoticed, but went misinterpreted.

"Don't worry. I'm fine now."

Sun snapped back to reality before putting up a grin that was a slightly dubious.

Inquiring what he was really thinking would have to wait till later. Sun walked over to the door and prompted Moon to do the same.

"Let's call Charizards to get to Hau'oli City," stated Sun. Agreeing to that, Moon followed him out the door.

Pulling out the ride pager, Sun's outfit became that of an athletic type again. Knitted eyebrows and a slight frown showed that something was wrong to him.

Moon was behind him. But she could tell that something was on his mind by how he was examining his outfit.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I think that this just looks a little weird now," answered the boy, pondering on why he hadn't noticed till now.

Indifferently, his friend just shrugged her shoulders. "It looks fine to me."

She pulled out her rider as well. However, her clothes didn't swap out at all. A mimicking of Sun's expression followed.

"That's weird." The sentence attracted more attention from Sun.

"What?" Asked the boy, turning to face her and see that she was holding her orb up.

"My riding gear didn't appear." Standing on her toes to get the orb higher didn't change anything either. "Charizard isn't coming either."

Something was definitely wrong with the scenario. It would be natural to assume that the rider was just broken, but it looked in prime condition.

Sun didn't offer much concern for this, though. After getting engulfed into a portal of light, meeting with Moon, and learning that she is partly amnesiac, there was little left to make him surprised. The explanation of damage from her fight with a Necrozma would suffice for the moment.

"It probably broke in your last fight," suggested Sun. Moon agreed to that idea. Very little memory was available to support alternative explanations.

With the option of aerial transport now gone, Sun and Moon traveled to Melemele by a ferry.

The ride was much slower than either wanted. Getting straight to Iki town was much more preferable than arriving at a port somewhere else and thenwalking all the way there.

Some compensation was available for their long stretch. Tropical oranges and shimmering yellows bounced across the water.

Beauty like that accompanied them all the way along the coast towards Iki Town. The search for Moon's house had driven them all along the island's coast.

"This is taking a little while," noted Sun. "Are you sure that-"

"There it is!"

Sun quickly turned his head to his friend, who was happily pointing towards a house matching the description she presented.

How and why her memory returned so abruptly were beyond him. It was entirely possible that she recognized it by seeing it. Whatever the case, there was now something else about the situation that demanded attention and answers.

"You sure that that's your house?" Asked Sun a little cautiously.

"Yeah. I recognize it perfectly!" She turned around happily, only to meet confusion.

That wasn't all that was on Sun's face. Some concern and caution were poorly belied beneath his expression. Moon reflected concern on her face when he did this.

"You're absolutely sure?"

"Uh-huh," answered the girl slowly. "I remember the nights that I spent on the east porch looking out at the sky with my Pokemon."

Honesty was illuminated faintly in her statement, so Sun couldn't bring himself to doubt her in the slightest way. Despite that, concern stirred in his mind as he shifted his focus from Moon to the house.

The porch that she was talking about couldn't be seen from where they were. Knowledge of that could only be obtained if one had really been on it.

'But how does she know that about my house?'

* * *

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are great games and I have been excited to start on this fanfic for ages! If there is anything that you guys have to say, please leave a review. It would also mean a lot to me if you favorited and followed.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Otherwise, you would have been able to fight more iconic trainers in the Battle Tree

"Speech"

'Thought'

* * *

Sakura stared with criticism.

She had been well aware of the emotional roller coaster that he had been riding, but the crazy turns were presumed to have concluded.

That was quickly disproven as she sat in her kitchen with Sun, his new friend, and an explanation that made as much sense as Ash not mega-evolving his Charizard.

"Mom, I know it doesn't make much sense, but I'm telling the truth," begged the young boy. Even he doubted some of the 'logic' in his explanation.

His insistence did little to achieve anything outside of irritating his mother. She got up and beckoned him to the kitchen, where they would be out of earshot of Moon. There was a sensation of oncoming reprimand.

"You know that if you wanted a friend over, you should've just asked me," whispered Sakura, causing her son fall on his butt.

"Mom, she's not just my friend!" Said the boy when he regained footing.

His mother discarded her irritation and criticism with that quick retort. She looked over to Moon, then to Sun, and repeated. A little concern popped up on her face.

"I know you need to cope with Lillie being gone, but getting a girlfriend so soon is not the answer."

It appeared to the boy that he couldn't say anything to assure the authenticity of his story. Unsure of anything else that he could say to convince his mother otherwise, Sun slowly fell backwards on the floor with a thud.

Despite the efforts to hide the conversation, Moon could both see and hear everything well. A drop of sweat appeared on her forehead.

'At least he's trying to help me,' rationalized the girl a little half-heartedly.

She heard some shuffling to her right and turned to see Meowth rubbing its head against the leg of the chair that she was sitting on.

Curious, she picked up the normal kitty. It seemed pleased by this action. Moon continued with the session by petting just behind the charm of Meowth's head. A slow purr resonated from the Pokemon.

Sakura ceased her talk with Sun when she noticed how content her Pokemon was.

"That's strange," noted the woman, placing her hand on her chin. Her son caught the same sight.

"Meowth likes being petted behind the charm. I don't see what's so weird about that," said the boy.

Ignorance was strong in him for somebody who was supposed to be an adept Pokemon trainer.

"It's not that. Meowth doesn't warm up to somebody else that quickly. He must really trust Moon," explained Sakura.

With that knowledge, Sun looked back at the scene. Meowth did have a penchant for getting attention, so he rushed towards newcomers. It was a habit that was completely impulsive and brief.

Despite that, the scratch cat Pokemon was playfully rolling around in their guest's lap.

Another thought crossed Sakura's mind. She didn't feel as compelled to share this one. There was some sense of familiarity while looking at Moon.

"I suppose she can stay at least for tonight," said the mother.

A satisfied expression spread across Sun's face. However, there was now another question that popped into his mind.

The house only had two bedrooms. Where would Moon sleep?

"Thanks. But where will she sleep?" Asked the brunette boy.

...

"I shouldn't have asked at all."

Sun was well aware of the customs that should be followed when one has a guest in their house; but he didn't expect to be forfeiting his room to his new student. This left him sleeping on a hammock on the porch.

He should have been thankful that the weather was quite pleasant, but his perception was too sour at the moment.

Deciding to make the best of it, he shuffled around to find a good position for sleeping. There were very few impediments to prevent him from achieving a good night's rest beyond his sour mood.

After all, the moonlight was very comforting that night.

...

Good weather had carried over into the next day, making for excellent training conditions for Sun and Moon. Walking down to the Melemele sea, the air was peacefully humming by. However, this did little to placate one of Moon's concerns.

"Are you sure that we shouldn't put up those posters first?" Asked the girl as she pointed to Sun's backpack.

Sakura had told her child to put up some posters showing Moon's face and saying that she had been found. It was possible that somebody would recognize her and find her quickly with the information provided.

"But then we won't have enough energy for training," retorted the boy. The girl shrugged her shoulders in return.

'I can just blame him later, I guess.'

Sun made sure to get Moon away from the tall grass, but not too close to the shoreline or Kukui's house. They needed to be in an area for training that provided the least amount of impediments.

"Alright, let's get your Pokemon out," instructed Sun.

"Okay." Moon pulled out five Pokeballs. "Come on out!"

She tossed the five balls into the air, releasing each individual Pokemon.

A blue fish with yellow orbs perched above its head. The light Pokemon, Lanturn.

A tiny brunette rabbit with blonde fur covering its ears and lower body. The rabbit Pokemon, Buneary.

A floating rock with five white points and a cracked exterior. The meteor Pokemon, Minior.

A tiny orange dog with black stripes. The puppy Pokemon, Growlithe.

A tall owl hooded in tan brown and green. The arrow quill Pokemon, Decidueye.

The team that Moon had built certainly had variety, but it appeared to be lacking in some areas. Buneary and Growlithe were undoubtedly admired by many people. Their appearance and mammalian aspects made them appeal more to people.

However, actual strength was something else to get out of that. Their evolved forms would've presented promising power.

"You didn't evolve your Buneary or Growlithe?" Asked Sun. Moon looked over with a half-hearted smile.

"Well, I would've, but Kale and Ace just look too cute!" Disapproval smoothly came from Sun's eyes. Part of him wanted to believe that she was being facetious.

Moon quickly noted this and felt compelled to prove her claim.

"Kale, use work up! Ace, use howl!" Commanded the brunette girl quickly.

The Buneary quickly shifted around from side to side in a possible effort to dance while the Growlithe reared his head up to howl.

Watching both of them made it obvious that they were trying hard, which resulted in some adorable appearances.

"See? Aren't they great?" Asked Moon in an ill-fated attempt.

Criticism tinged with sorrow held his face down with that explanation. Training Moon was going to be harder than he thought. He would probably be more satisfied seeing how her other Pokemon performed.

"I say we get back to that later." His student nodded, understanding that she wasn't going to convince him.

"Alright. Well, that's Lyle, Gurren, and Chin-chan." She pointed to the Decidueye, Minior, and Lanturn respectively with each name before pulling out a friend ball. "And you've already met Nebby."

Sun nodded to show his comprehension. He reasoned that her Nebby was already a powerful Pokemon and implicitly understood Moon's protection of that Pokemon.

The combination of all her Pokemon had the potential to create a balanced team. However, her Buneary and Growlithe probably wouldn't contribute much. This was far from the first encounter that Sun had with a trainer who had underwhelming Pokemon to him.

'Maybe they are better than they look,' pondered the boy. "Let's have a quick battle."

Moon flinched quickly at that suggestion. "Are you sure? Shouldn't we do some push-ups or...something?"

"It'd be better if I could get a feel for how you and your Pokemon fight," answered Sun logically. His student nodded to that suggestion, albeit with some reluctance.

Twenty feet was placed in between the two trainers before picking their Pokemon. Moon sent forth her Decidueye for the fight.

'Manny would be a good strong start to this. But then I might not see how good she and her Pokemon are,' thought Sun.

Weighing his options carefully, he found only one good option available to him at the moment. The Champion pulled out a plain pokeball and tossed it.

"Go, Bod!" Said the trainer enthusiastically as he released the Type: Null.

Moon eyed her opponent's Pokemon cautiously as a beginning move. She had no idea what Bod could do, given its chimeric body.

"Lyle, use leaf blade!" Yelled the girl immediately. The owl flapped its wings forward and took one of the arrows which extended into a sword.

"Bod, use iron head!" Said Sun in return.

His partner's response was not as immediate as Lyle was to Moon, but it was fast enough to counter.

Lyle's blade quickly met with Bod's helm. It did little to actually damage the latter because of the angle of the attack and the density of the helmet.

"Get back!" Commanded Moon abruptly; she quickly grasped the effectiveness of leaf blade against Type: Null. Lyle flapped his wings back to obey his trainer's command.

"Bod, use x-scissor!"

Distance was lost as quickly as it was made when the normal type charged towards the grass starter. Swipes from both paws inflicted incredible damage upon Lyle.

Bod hopped back towards his trainer, ready for the next command. Sun didn't issue it right away. He wanted to give Moon and Lyle some room to understand how they battled better.

'Looks like she might have forgotten that too,' thought the boy as he glanced over to his student and her Decidueye.

Frustration had colored her face red while she was administering a max potion to her Pokemon. Training was off to a brisk and unpleasant start for her.

Reserving her initial emotions, she backed away a few feet.

"Lyle, use acrobatics," commanded the girl calmly.

Sun and his Pokemon waited to see the outcome of this maneuver. The owl leapt up into the air and darted around before zooming in on Bod.

Lyle's left foot connected with Bod's head, slamming the synthetic Pokemon into the ground. The effect of acrobatics kicked in abruptly. Bod took double damage because Lyle was able to maneuver around easier due to not holding anything.

Sun decided to respond immediately. "Use x-scissor again."

The normal type pulled its head out of the ground and launched towards the Decidueye. Great damage was inflicted with this attack. It was enough to knock Lyle out of the sky.

A lack of any movement showed that Lyle could no longer battle.

"Yosh! Good job." Sun offered his hand to Bod, which it shook like a dog after a few seconds.

A glance over to Moon revealed her saddened expression. Defeat was never something easy to take, even when the consequences were minute.

"Come on. That was just one match," said Sun in an effort to cheer her up. An upset girl like her wouldn't be so easily convinced.

"Easy for you to say. You guys won," retorted Moon sourly. She only gave her back to her teacher as she retrieved Lyle.

Sighing, Sun scratched the back of his head. As the Champion of Alola, how could he not give so much effort in any battle?

He turned his attention to Bod and it reminded him of a few lessons that he learned in the past few months.

"It just shows that you can get even better." The teacher turned over to his student. His words did little to dissuade her from pouting. "Besides, you might have just forgotten some things about battling too."

A small shuffle from Moon's bangs showed that she flinched slightly. Sun's eyes blinked in surprise, realizing that he must've touched a nerve.

'I just can't win with her.' Apologizing seemed the best choice, even if its effectiveness could be called into question. "Sorry abo-"

"It's alright." She intercepted an apology before it could be completed. Some stress belied her voice, but it didn't appear in her neutral expression when she turned around. "I just have to keep trying right?"

'You're definitely mad at me,' thought Sun. He didn't say that to her face because of her smile. He nodded cheerfully in return. 'But at least you're trying to be nice.'

The teacher and student continued training for a little while longer. In this time, Sun started to notice several things about how Moon battled. He held no doubts towards her abilities as a Pokemon Trainer.

'She knows how to work around in a Pokemon battle.'

It was apparent to the boy that everything she had said was undoubtedly true. She comprehended how some Pokemon types interacted with each other and understood move effects.

Moon was starting to prove some experience. Especially in the match with her Minior and his Vikavolt.

"Power gem!" Commanded the girl quickly. Her levitating rock summoned up clumps of sand that turned into rocks and hurled them.

"Charlie, agility dodge." Sun's Pokemon darted around quickly, avoiding contact with the attack.

Normally, a Minior would hold an incredible advantage over a Vikavolt. The pathetic speed of the latter would make it impossible for him to attack first, but it appeared that Sun had taken time to work around this.

'I've trained with Sophocles to figure out how to get Charlie to his best,' thought the boy. 'But let's see what you can do, Moon.'

Moon was understandably starting to exhibit signs of frustration again. She ceased this behavior with a deep breath, knowing that it wouldn't reward her any benefit.

"Alright. Gurren, use acrobatics!" Said the girl.

The rock-flying type darted up and maneuvered around quickly. It appeared that Moon had an affinity for that move.

Narrowing his eyes, Sun awaited for the critical moment of the attack; his partner trusted him and did the same.

Their patient expressions were effortlessly noticed by the opposing trainer. Concern mixed with frustration on her face in the few seconds before Gurren impacted.

'What are you-"

"Spark!"

Charlie, glowing with electricity, slammed into Gurren. He traded a good amount of damage in that small moment.

Gurren bobbed and hovered back towards its trainer. The hard exterior surrounding him began to fall off, revealing its pinkish-red core.

"Looks like this just got real," commented Sun. Charlie nodded while munching on a sitrus berry that he was holding in his back legs.

'There's got to be a way.' The student was starting to become increasingly frustrated again.

Little stood against the idea that she could win so flawlessly; Sun had already demonstrated that he was aware of his Pokémon's short comings and could compensate for them.

Gurren's had lost its decent defenses for a more nimble body; the next hit would surely do it in.

'Just got to be really fast,' concluded Moon. "Gurren, use automize!"

Her Pokemon brushed down against the beach front, chipping away to make itself even more nimble. A sharper appearance and great speed was rewarded. This form would be more difficult to hit from a distance.

"Now use acrobatics!" Yelled the girl before her voice cracked.

Gurren darted around in the air above before dive-bombing down to Charlie. The stag beetle and his trainer narrowed their eyes, awaiting the right moment.

And so was Moon.

"Circle!"

Right before the meteor impacted into Charlie, it swerved around in a circle. Extra momentum carried over from the downward strike would result in a very fierce attack.

But it all came to a sudden halt when a wave of electricity burst out from the Vikavolt.

Gurren, being so close to the epicenter, took the full force of the immense attack. The rock-flying type was knocked out immediately.

'That was a little close. Good thing Charlie and I were both thinking of using discharge,' thought Sun as he reflected on the outcome.

As soon as Moon retrieved her fainted Pokemon, she turned away from Sun with her cheek puffed up. That irritated expression didn't go unnoticed by her teacher.

"Oi, don't get mad at me for winning." The girl didn't respond, she just huffed and looked away. "Look. You asked me to train you."

To argue against that point would have been hypocritical. Loss from somebody who was clearly better as a trainer were inevitable. The girl put some of her anger aside and looked towards Sun.

"It just doesn't feel good losing to somebody so many times in a row," explained Moon.

"Yeah, I kinda know," answered Sun.

Battling against somebody as good as Brendan and losing two times in a row were demeaning for Sun. Despite how much it hurt him to lose both times, it helped him to cope with the problems he had been dealing with.

Moon had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, but there was some self pity in Sun's eyes. Seeing that made her believe what he was saying and almost got rid of her anger altogether.

Sun discarded his pity to continue teaching Moon.

"So let's go over what went wrong," suggested the boy.

"Ok." The girl nodded a little.

Sun could easily interpret that she was still a little sensitive, so he would need to pick his words carefully.

"You had a good idea with how fast your Minior was moving," started the teacher, "but I think you panicked near the end and lost control."

Trusting her teacher's words, Moon accepted his logic. Their experience during the initial meeting also provided more weight to his point about her stability.

"So I need to keep calm throughout the whole battle?" An affirming nod was given from Sun.

"That's right! You should also focus on what Pokemon you're fighting against." The black-haired boy pulled out the pokeball with his Vikavolt. "Charlie focuses on special attacks, which made it easy to hit your Minior from a distance."

Admittedly, his student had difficulty comprehending that tip. "But Vikavolts have low defense."

Sun blinked few times, caught in the spotlights by that counterpoint. A Minior's attacking power would usually be enough to deal with a Vikavolt.

Charlie was exempt from this due to the amount of training that he and Sun had been through. All the boy could do was sheepishly scratch the back of his head and grin to answer Moon's argument.

"Well...you're not wrong."

"Maybe we should take a break." Moon sighed and rubbed her head during her suggestion.

Remembering the signs that they had to put up, Sun had to agree with that idea. It would also be beneficial if Moon got some rest for her mind and if her Pokemon got some rest.

After retrieving and healing their Pokemon, the two started moving westward down towards Hau'Oli city.

A picture of Moon's face and a passage explaining the situation of her being found were not much. However, it was the most they could go off of considering that her amnesia kept her from most of her memory. Even her last name was currently an enigma.

Areas like Pokemon Centers and schools would draw plenty of people in. Somebody would surely come by and recognize Moon.

'Still not sure why we needed to put a sign at the school,' thought Sun as he picked up his stack of papers.

Displaying great determination and stamina was on Moon's agenda. She was already ahead and placing up more posters than Sun was. Having Kale outside of her Pokeball to help out also gave her much determination.

"You're excited for this," commented the boy.

"Well, yeah," said the girl in return. "I remember having a lot of good times in Hau'oli City. Somebody's bound to recognize me."

"That makes sense. I just don't know why you didn't put that kind of energy into our battles."

Criticism was answered with a stuck out tongue and closed eyes. This was mimicked by her Buneary.

The distribution of posters evenly continued down the road. Moon's work ethic didn't diminish even slightly, in spite of the fact that none of the people took notice of the signs they were putting up.

Sun felt some compulsion to question the inconsistency with Moon's claim that somebody would notice her , but something stopped him.

The brunette girl stopped in her tracks, faced towards a brick wall, and gasped loudly. An action like this would easy to dismiss if Kale didn't also do it with her ears perked up.

'What? What's gotten into them?' A possible answer came to him as quickly as the question did. 'Is there somebody they recognize?'

Eager to find answers, Sun turned his eyes towards whatever had stolen the scene.

All he could notice on the wall was a poster of a person wearing red and yellow spiky gear and holding a microphone.

'Oh...That's what she was looking at.' Tension instantly evaporated from his viewpoint. 'I think that guy battled me last week.'

While the boy was disappointed by the sudden reveal of the situation, the girl was struck with awe and her eyes practically becoming hearts.

"Ryuki! He's so cool!" Kale shared her trainer's fan girl hype to some extent.

"Eh, he's okay," said Sun. There wasn't too much appreciation for music in his life, so he couldn't take part in the admiration.

"Oh, come on! How can you say that?" Retorted the girl happily in an effort to convince her friend. "Have you ever seen anyone sing on stage with a Dragonite that can play the guitar so well?!"

Playing a musical instrument with short claws was an accomplishment worth praise. However, Sun had already battled Ryuuki and wasn't impressed.

"That is kind of cool. But that Dragonite got one-shot by Charlie," explained the Champion.

Moon didn't accept the criticism or opposing opinion about her idol's talent; she just huffed and turned away for a moment.

That disapproval was dismissed when she connected the dots. Sun had battled Ryuki before.

Ominously, she turned back to her friend.

"You...met him?"

With some small concern, mostly spawned from seeing Kale back away, Sun realized that he might face something brutal in the next few seconds.

"Well, yeah, he-," Suddenly, he was stopped from saying anything else. Moon rushed over and grabbed his shoulders; while donning an expression of pure determination, she shook him violently.

"YOU HAVE TO GET ME HIS AUTOGRAPH!"

Faster than an aqua jet and more potent than a Bewear, Moon's fan girl hype was amongst the most powerful forces in Alola.

Sun managed to dislodge himself from the death grip and recalibrate his senses. There was no concern for how he felt from his friend.

Said friend abruptly pulled a 180 in her methods of convincing Sun for that autograph.

"Please?" Big pleading eyes from Moon were a little more effective than violently shaking him.

"Alright, alright. Just calm down." The girl flashed a jubilant smile.

"Thanks! You're the best!" The reality of what she did quickly impacted her. "Uh, sorry about that. I get a little excited about Ryuki."

An exasperated sigh escaped from Sun. Even Kale seemed a little embarrassed an exhausted at her trainer's behavior.

There was now literally no doubt in Sun's mind about this girl, she was an emotional rollercoaster unlike anything he had seen before.

Even Lusamine started to have more stability to him than Moon did thus far. Despite that, he still felt sympathy to help her become stronger and stay with her for a while.

Moon was in a similar situation to what Lillie was going through. The boy just couldn't leave her after everything he and Lillie had been through.

"It's ok," said the boy calmly. "Let's just get the rest of these put up."

"Right."

Moon turned around to gather the posters that fell to the ground during her overhype. A helping hand was offered to her by Kale; her Pokemon had some appreciation and concern for her to stick through such an embarrassing situation.

Being beside friends like Kale and Sun reassured the girl that the results would eventually turn out good in the end.

After picking up the posters, Moon noticed a person who was looking directly at her.

It was a woman, much taller than Moon was. She had very pale skin and blue hair, which was hanging out of the peculiar helmet that she was wearing. Said helmet was decorated with white and navy blue, as was the rest of the jumpsuit she was wearing. The most peculiar feature about this person was the fact that she had some shades obscuring her eyes with only a small black slit for vision.

"Uh...hi." Moon tried to make a good first impression, but the mysterious lady made no response. "Can we-"

She was abruptly cut off when the lady pointed her finger towards Moon.

"I've found you!"

* * *

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you liked it. If you had anything to say, please leave a review. Please follow and favorite to stay up to date!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. But I do love how much of ORAS you can see in USUM.

"Speech"

'Thought'

 _"Electronic Speech"_

* * *

What Moon was experiencing was most certainly a peculiar sight and one that was scary to her. The issues of her amnesia were also contributing to the fear she was experiencing because she thought they might be linked to this.

Unconsciously, she started to back away until Sun put himself in between her and this new woman.

"Sun." He turned his head to face her.

"Don't worry. I got this," reassured the boy before turning back to the weird woman. "What do you want with Moon?"

A motionless, blank stare was all he got in return. The boy narrowed his eyes in return.

Tense seconds passed by before the woman pointed towards Moon again without changing the expressions she already had.

"I found you." Her repeated phrase was more common than the first time.

"Uh..you already said that," noted Sun redundantly.

"Yes. What do I do now?"

Suspicion was now replaced by pure question. This woman's intentions were mystery that lacked even a hint.

"I'm so confused," said Moon. The odd lady pointed behind herself.

Following the direction, Sun could clearly see that she was pointing towards one of the posters that he and Moon had placed.

A little light was shed on the situation. However, a little wasn't enough to explain everything.

"So you saw one of our signs?" Inquired Sun.

"Yes. I have found her," answered the blue-haired woman. "What do I do now?"

Threat and urgency had exited the scene. Moon suddenly felt more comfortable around this woman.

She approached the odd lady with some hope that there would be some recognition.

"Do you know who I am? Those posters are to help me find somebody I know. I can't really remember much at all," explained the girl.

A silent stare fell on the scene. This odd woman just looked at Moon and the lack of direct eye contact made it appear like she was analyzing the young girl.

Sun would have cautiously crept closer with concern. He chose not to because his student appeared trusting.

'Come on, what are you-'

"I don't know you."

Any hope that the young girl harbored in her mind were swiftly, and cruelly, shattered.

Sun's eyebrow twitched with surprise. He had rarely ever seen anyone deliver a sentence so bluntly. Those shades really neutralized the woman's expressions.

Some despair ripped through Moon's heart as a result of the answer.

'No...that's not-' She shook her head quickly. Letting despair hold her down would diminish appearances. "Oh, I see. Thank you anyway."

"I apologize for causing you two confusion," said the woman.

"It's alright," replied Sun. "I'm actually more confused that you don't know what a lost and found sign is."

Curiously, the blue haired woman looked down towards the stack of papers that Sun was carrying. A concept like this was foreign to her.

"Where I am from, we post signs to indicate tasks that must be done." She returned her gaze towards the pair. "Are you saying that you use signs for more than just that?"

The role of being curiously confused returned to Sun and Moon. They looked at each other for a moment, both unsure if this woman was serious.

"Uh, yeah. We're posting these signs for more than just telling people what to do," explained the boy.

A slam of a fist into a palm showed that the odd woman comprehended what Sun was saying. The gesture alone was odd to the protagonists, but it was even weirder for them to see that the woman suddenly had a happy expression on her face.

"I see. Yes! That will most certainly help us!" She abruptly turned one hundred and eighty degrees after pulling her 180 and left.

Sun and Moon were left baffled at what had just occurred.

Trying to come up with an explanation seemed like a mute action.

"That was one weird person," commented Moon.

"Yeah."

Seeing the outfit that the blue-haired lady was enough to make Sun think oddly of her, but the behavior was on a whole other level. Some of what was said did stick with him, though.

'Where could she be from that they don't use lost and found signs?' Questioned the boy in his thoughts.

A logical answer wouldn't present itself to the boy. He shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention over to Moon, who was kneeling down to Kale. Concern weighed heavily on her face.

"Sorry about that," said Sun, getting her attention. "That must've hurt."

Some surprise appeared on Moon's face, but was brief.

"No, I shouldn't have thought that it would happen so soon." She returned her attention over to her Pokemon. "I'm more concerned about Kale right now."

Curious, Sun focused on the Buneary as well. There was terror in the little normal-type's eyes. She looked like she was being hunted by a Houndoom.

An expression like that was a new experience for Sun.

"Did that crazy lady scare her?" Inquired the boy.

"Probably. She always gets like this when somebody tough comes along," explained the girl. "It's ok, Kale. Do you wanna go back into your pokeball?"

The affectionate tone of black-haired girl's voice ceased her Buneary's shivering, but a sad expression still coated her face.

A slow nod answered the trainer's question. Moon put up a friendly smile before recalling her Pokemon. She stood up, grabbed a stack of flyers and continued towards Hau'oli city.

"Let's go, these flyers aren't gonna hang themselves!" Said the girl with some cheer.

"R-right!" Sun was offset slightly by his friend's return to a working attitude.

He could easily tell that she was torn up at least a little bit. The odd woman's response was so abrupt that it bordered on insensitive, especially for the situation that Moon was in.

Plucking the nerves of his student didn't seem like a good idea at the moment. Sun chose to support her with enthusiasm instead.

'Still, the way that Kale looked just now. That wasn't just being scared,' pondered the boy. 'I'll have to keep an eye on that.'

An afternoon was spent entirely on placing the posters around Hau'oli city. No more awkward encounters occurred for either trainer, but it also yielded no people recalling who Moon was.

Not to be deterred, Moon chose to carry on.

"Let's go back to your house and get some more posters! We can move to Heahea city next," suggested the girl eagerly.

Sun just shook is head in response. "Sorry. No can do."

Hurt welled up in Moon's eyes. She was not expecting her friend to be so rejecting of her ideas. There was no denial from the first few displays of her enthusiasm. This response was undoubtedly new.

"But why?" Sun pointed his finger to the orange sky and purple ocean.

"It's getting late. I have to be at Mount Lanakila tomorrow for anyone who wants to challenge me," explained the boy casually.

The contrast between the sky and the ocean alleviated some of the girl's pain; she understood that going around too much at nighttime without rest could be dangerous. However, a new question popped into her mind when she was told where her teacher needed to be.

"Challengers? Are you a trial captain?"

A bit of surprise appeared on Champion's face. He quickly discarded it once the he remembered Moon's amnesia.

"Sorry, but I didn't tell you that I'm this region's Champion."

The casual answer of the Champion caused a thud with Moon's jaw hitting the ground.

"You?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" She flailed her arms up and down.

With a sheepish grin, Sun just shrugged his shoulders. There wasn't really a good reason for why he didn't mention being the Champion.

"I guess it just slipped my mind."

Moon failed to give a mature response to that. The day had presented more than enough surprising events, she was tired of arguing with Sun.

'I know that I asked him to help me. But he's starting to get worse to me,' thought the girl sourly. Some of her irritation leaked out for Sun to see and misinterpret.

"Come on. I'm the first Champion of Alola, we're still setting up some rules," said the boy in poor defense.

"If that's the case, you should have remembered it better," grumbled the girl.

The foul mood plaguing the scene was not solely from a slip of information. Sun could easily see that Moon was frustrated by something else.

His student's drive and belief that somebody would recognize her were still going, but they were partially damaged.

The situation was quickly suspended by many strings, making it hard for Sun to decide on how to respond. Brushing off what Moon was experiencing would undoubtedly make her more upset, but he just couldn't give in to anything she said; doing that would spoil her.

Unconsciously, he gave a response.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok." Moon's anger had yet to relent as she kept her eyes away from Sun. "Let's go."

The two left the scene with the girl going first and Sun following after her. A little anger hung in the latter's mind. He was upset with both Moons actions an his own.

'I wish I could get you to be more responsible.'

Dinner was ready for the two kids when they returned back to Route 1. Sakura had anticipated that Moon wouldn't be out of their lives immediately, so she prepared enough for three.

There wasn't much communication between the children. An unspoken tension hung in the air.

"How many challengers do you think you'll have tomorrow?" Asked Sakura to her son. He looked up to the ceiling to ponder.

"I'm not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if Kukui came to challenge me again."

'How could he not tell me about that? Being the Champion is a big deal,' thought the girl childishly.

A sour aura hovered around the young girl. The hosts would have to be completely oblivious to miss it.

An idea suddenly came to Sakura to lighten up the mood.

"Sun, can I get you to run an errand for me in Malie City when you're finished tomorrow?"

Having a mouthful of asparagus made it so Sun could only answer by nodding his head. His mother turned over to Moon while keeping her friendly expression.

"Can you go with him?" The request managed to get the young girl's attention.

Moon's irritation made her want to refuse, but she remembered the situation she was in.

"Yeah. I kind of need to stay near him anyway," answered the black-haired girl without looking to her teacher.

"Thank you, Moon." Sakura was indeed grateful, but she felt some pity for both her child and their guest.

...

Later that evening, Moon sat on Sun's bed with a torn consciousness.

The situation demanded that she stay with Sun to both maintain the security of both her and her Pokemon. However, her teacher had yet to prove effective at what he was doing.

'It just feels like he beats me up and bosses me around.' Her eyes sunk down with a little sorrow.

Even though Sun had not proven himself the best at teaching, he wasn't selfish.

He accepted her request to teach her, found her a place to stay, and went out of his way to protect her against the enigmatic lady.

'I just don't know anymore...I don't know anything,' thought the girl while shaking her head and throwing it onto the pillow.

Her vision landed on her Pokeballs. All of them were resting on the counter. The simple possibility that her Pokemon, her friends, could be put in danger yet again gave her the confidence to move forward.

'They trust me in a battle...I should do better to trust him then,' resolved Moon.

Soon after making up her mind, she fell asleep, but not before noticing a conspicuous Clefairy doll.

...

Being the Champion sometimes felt like being a part time employee to Sun. He had to go to Mount Lanakila at least twice a week, battle/train against the Elite Four, and then battle anybody who wanted to challenge him. Waiting for the challengers was actually a two hour period of sitting in the Champion's arena.

"Can't believe that you sat around for a whole two hours and did nothing," complained Moon.

Nobody had shown up that day, so Sun passed the time by taking pictures with the Pokefinder. Afterwards, they went to Ula Ula island to run the errands that Sakura asked of them.

"We didn't do nothing. We took a lot of cool pictures," retorted Sun. Rotom popped out of his backpack.

" _Yeah! It definitely get'zz people hyped!_ "

Moon was already introduced to Rotom, but she found it a little odd that a Pokemon could talk and inhabit a machine so easily.

She discarded that feeling when the Pokemon pulled up the last picture that Sun took and posted on the PokeFinder network.

It was a humorous photo of Manny lifting both his trainer and Mimi, with the latter two stacked on top of each other.

Moon scanned through the comments that were rolling by under it.

"Wait. Why does that one say too much water?" Asked the girl as she pointed to one of the comments.

A casual shrug of the shoulders showed both that Sun had seen it before and that he didn't know.

"Dunno." Rotom's screen turned back to its face.

" _It'zz a weirdly popular phrazze._ "

Denying that statement was outside of Moon's opinion. She could not deny that there was a lot of odd sayings that emerged from online social media.

Pulling out the list that Sun's mother had given them, she checked off buying the special Pokemon food.

"Alright all that's left to get are the cucumbers, tomatoes, and mushrooms," stated the girl.

"Sweet." Sun walked ahead, knowing exactly where the farmer's market was. Rotom flew back into Sun's backpack as he was walking.

The boy's penchant for vegetables was slightly odd to his student. Never once had she met a kid who would willingly eat them. Or at least she couldn't remember any kid who would.

Moon was about to follow behind Sun when she noticed his sudden stop.

"You know, the farmer's market on Poni island is much better." Abruptly, Sun turned around and went back the way he came.

There was little that the girl could provide that would lead her to think otherwise, so she went with what he was saying.

"Ok, but the dock is that way." She casually pointed in the opposite direction, causing Sun to flinch.

"Well...I was thinking we could take the scenic route," argued the boy weakly. The sweat dripping from his head didn't help his image.

"The only way to the dock is that way."

Sun flinched again with more emphasis this time. Curious, Moon walked in front of her teacher to see that he was sweating a little and his eyebrows had started to twitch.

His behavior was making him more suspicious by the moment. It was obvious that he was hiding something.

"Ok. What are you hiding, Sun?" Asked the girl critically, her eyes narrowing.

Somewhat expectedly, the boy's head flicked and his jaw dropped. The feeling of treachery covered his face.

"Why did you have to say my name?"

"Huh?"

"I challenge you!"

Caught off guard by the sudden proclamation from behind, Moon turned her head to see a youngster enthusiastically pointing towards them. A slow, dreadful turn of her teacher's head indicated that this wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

She didn't see things in the same regard. Her finger pointed towards her curious face.

The kid rushed over to Sun and pointed his Pokeball into the Champion's line of sight.

"I challenge you!"

"I heard you the first time, Tristan," said Sun, relaxing from his stiff pose. "And if you wanted to battle me, you should have come to the Pokemon League."

A strong shake of the child's head showed his disapproval; surprisingly, his eager smile remained through it.

"But then we wouldn't be strong enough to fight you!" Exclaimed Tristan.

"Give me a break here." The older trainer sighed and face-palmed.

"Uh." Both boys turned to the one confused girl. "Can you guys explain what's going on?"

Sun began his explanation by pointing to the younger trainer. "This is Tristan. He's a kid who keeps trying to challenge me but won't go through the Elite Four like the others do."

Moon raised her eyebrows while she heard that explanation. Somebody trying to bend the rules on becoming the Champion was a fresh concept to her.

With his arms full of energy, Tristan complained to Sun more.

"You didn't hear me! If we did that, then we wouldn't be able to battle you at our best!"

"Then just get some healing items!"

"That would take too long!"

Grasping the tip of his hat and arching his back, Sun yelled to the sky. The irritation and agony that Tristan caused him felt endless.

Upholding the rules and denying the eager youngster was possibly the worst part of Sun's Champion duties. To make matters worse, he still had to train Moon at some point during that day.

'Wait a minute.' Sun's eyes widened as an epiphany struck him.

Sun straightened his posture and faced Tristan with a calmed expression. Moon was a little intrigued at his change in attitude.

"I'll make you a deal," offered the Champion.

"You'll battle me right now?!"

"No." He pointed to Moon. "If you can beat her, then I'll battle you."

"Eh?!"

* * *

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry that it's short. I am getting the feeling that my readers would be more interested in reading chapters that are shorter rather than longer. If you disagree, let me know.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Otherwise, we wouldn't be slowly inserting Ash and Pikachu into entirely new contexts.

"Speech"

'Thought'

 _"Electronic Speech"_

* * *

The battlefield was set along Route 15's beach. It would be a three-on-three match.

Moon stood on one end with a little insecurity holding her down. She looked over to Sun as he sat on a boulder. He gave her a thumbs up and a cheerful smile. A weak smile was offered in return.

Her vision was returned to her opponent on the other side. The fire in Tristan's eyes had diminished a little, but it was still burning.

Sun had placed Moon in a tight situation. If she failed to command her Pokemon correctly, they would get hurt, she would get torn up about being defeated by a little kid, and her teacher would probably rant about it to no end.

She couldn't even call upon her Nebby for help. Sun made it very clear to her that doing that would practically be cheating.

The bright side to her situation was that her opponent appeared to be more bite than bark.

"Maybe this will be easy," said Moon in a whisper.

"Go, Tauros!" The girl's eyes widened to dishes as a mighty bull jumped out of the pokeball and slammed onto the ground. A cloud of dust formed as a result.

Countering such a large opponent wouldn't be easy. Whatever Pokemon Moon decided to send out would be subject to Tauros's intimidate and lose some of their attack power.

'Tauros is a normal type...Lyle will be able to avoid most of its powerful moves,' thought the girl. She picked out her pokeball and sent her Decidueye out.

As one would expect, Lyle flinched at the sight of Tauros's anger. The bull was more than ready to trounce all over any victim that would be called its opponent.

Sun observed the situation with no change in his mood. Rotom flew out of the backpack and gawked when it noticed the size of Tristan's Tauros.

 _"Son of a-"_

"Rotom!"

 _"What? I wazz gonna say Turtonator."_ A cock of the eyebrow showed Sun's disbelief. _"Anyway, are you sure that Moon can handle thizz?"_

There was no change in Sun's expression outside of his eyebrow going down. He leaned close to Rotom to whisper his response.

"Relax. Even if she loses, it's gonna be good training for her," answered the boy.

 _"She'zz gonna kill you when she findzz that out."_ Rotom's face was now crossed between question and pity.

Type advantage was sided with Moon, but she still felt a little uneasy about the situation in front of her. Battling with Sun yesterday already taught her an important lesson about sizing up the opponent.

It was a lesson that she would pay more caution towards.

"Tauros, use earthquake!" yelled the youngster. His normal-type bucked and slammed the ground several times with its hooves.

Lyle took a decent amount of damage from the tremors, but not enough to stop him. His trainer grimaced immediately following the attack.

'Crap! I could've told him to fly up.' She quickly moved past her error to counter. "Lyle, use leaf blade!"

The owl launched forward and drew one of his arrows as a sword. His opponent took the full force of the blow. A strong jump sent Lyle back in front of his trainer.

"An attack like that won't hurt us!" Tristan proclaimed. "Use pursuit!"

Tauros maneuvered around in zigzags and a shift in the battle's tide occurred.

Only a few milliseconds were available to Moon with how quick her opponent was moving.

"Lyle, fly up!" Flapping his wings, the Decidueye dodged into the air.

The safety of height was temporary, though. Tristan's Tauros jumped up after Lyle and slammed headfirst into him. The attack was devastatingly effective to the ghost-grass type.

Wrinkling her cheeks and gritting her teeth, Moon could see that this wasn't a good start.

She immediately withdrew her partner from the battlefield; keeping him out there brought more risk than reward. Carefully, she thought of which Pokemon to send out instead.

"Go, Gurren!" Said Moon. The tiny meteor Pokemon flew out and stood high above the field.

Stars filled Tristan's eyes once he understood what Pokemon Moon had sent out.

"Cool! I wonder what color it is! Tauros, use rock slide!" Said the child quickly. Pieces of the ground were broken up and sent in a curve towards Gurren.

"Dodge!" Though it tried it's best, the Minior took a few hits from the attack. "Use power gem!"

Some of the rocks that were leftover from the rock slide were pulled from the ground and sent back to Tauros. Surprisingly, the wild bull Pokemon took a large amount of damage, evident by the Pokemon shaking its head in irritation.

"Tauros, use rock slide!"

'Why is he repeating himself?' thought Moon. Her Minior took two blows before losing its outer shell.

Moon's lips curved upwards at the opportunity she was presented with. "Use acrobatics!"

Gurren quickly zoomed down towards Tauros. He carefully zoomed around and avoided any return strikes. Having no held item and shields down activated made his attack power tremendous.

"Tauros, use rock slide!" The mighty bull pushed Gurren back and broke the ground up again.

Moon blinked a few times while her Pokemon took the attack. Her opponent's battle style involved a lot of repetition, arguably too much.

"Gurren, go high up!" Commanded the girl. Her partner floated up at least 10 meters into the air.

"That's nothing! Use rock slide again!" Yelled Tristan. His Pokemon obliged, though with a little reluctance this time as his eyes squinted.

Watching from the sidelines, Sun interpreted the direction of the battle. He initially saw Moon's choice to retreat as trying to gain distance. However, he was seasoned enough to understand the benefits.

 _"If she really wanted to stop rock slide, then maybe she should've sent out her Lanturn,"_ criticized Rotom.

Sun chuckled a little at his friend's suggestion. "Maybe, but I think this works too."

The rocks that Tauros had chucked missed Gurren by at least a few meters. Tristan gawked as he realized the small advantage that Moon now held.

Rock slide was already an attack with weak accuracy, but height and gravity made it even more difficult to successfully hit the Minior.

"Hey! Get back here!"

"No! Gurren, stay right there!" Countered Moon.

"Fine! If you're gonna stay right there, we'll come to you!" Tristan pointed to his opponent critically. "Use giga impact!"

The ground quaked despite the attack's nature. Tauros launched into the air with a powerful aura coaxed him.

Gurren was frozen with fear as a practical missile was flying up towards him. On impulse, he flew to his right. Tauros soared straight past the rock-flying type and ended up pulling a Team Rocket. He unfortunately flailed his legs while his aura carried him into the horizon.

Everybody needed more than a moment to process what had happened. Tristan reared up to the sky.

"Tauros!"

"Uh...does this mean we win?" Asked Moon as she looked in the direction that Tauros went flying off into. Sun got up from his spot and walked into the center of the battlefield.

"Let's take a quick break while I try to get Tauros back," suggested Sun.

It took a few minutes to find where the bull had landed and retrieve him. Bringing him back revealed his lack of consciousness.

"Looks like you win the first round, Moon," said Sun.

A short breath of relief escaped from the girl. Beating that Tauros was a good step forward in the situation, but things were far from over.

While Tristan was retrieving his Pokemon, Moon looked to Gurren and pointed up. The Minior was still in it's exposed form as healing while Tauros was gone would've been a little unfair. The increased speed and attacking power were beneficial, so being without its shell wasn't necessarily bad.

"You're gonna keep him up there?" Asked Sun as Gurren floated higher.

"Yeah, it worked pretty well last time," said Moon while staring up at her Pokemon. Her teacher shrugged his shoulders and returned to the boulder.

"Go!"

Both Sun and Moon glanced over to Tristan as he launched his next Pokemon out. An Alolan Exeggutor popped out, and they stomped their feet robustly as three of the four heads towered over Gurren.

"Now use wood hammer!"

Exeggutor slammed their three tall heads into Gurren, who couldn't hear whatever command Moon had yelled. The distance from her made it difficult.

Comically, the Minior went careening into the ground. Its trainer flinched in surprise. Her strategy was easily countered.

Gurren floated up out of the indent in the ground. The stammering bobs were evidence of how little energy it had left.

'Ace would have a better time with type advantage and his health, but...' Moon turned her attention towards Exeggutor's stature. 'I'm not sure what he could do against an opponent so tall.'

Brashly, the girl made her decision. "Gurren, use acrobatics!"

The tiny meteor dashed forward and around the long neck of Exeggutor. All three heads tried and failed to keep track of its position.

"Just use brutal swing!" Said Tristan with a bit of irritation. His Pokemon slowly began spinning the long neck around.

Gurren stopped its attack out of fear before the long neck slammed it back to the ground.

Moon would've run over to pick up her injured partner, but Exeggutor had yet to cease the brutal swing. Instinctively, she ducked and covered her head.

"Hey! Tell him to stop!" Yelled the girl very loudly.

"Not until your Pokemon goes down!" Retorted Tristan.

Gurren had fainted from the brutal swing, but Tristan had failed to notice. His burning drive to win would've pressed for the attack to continue anyway.

Suddenly, Exeggutor lost their balance and tripped over, collapsing to the ground with great force. The round-about trips from brutal swing were only supposed to be done one to 3 spins at a time. All that momentum combined with the plant dragon's long neck had caused them to fall over.

Sun and Rotom were both frozen with heart and hard drive stopped respectively. Exeggutor's tree top landed mere feet away from them.

 _"T-That wazz so clozze."_

"Yeah. Way too close for comfort." The boy was slowly starting to regret his solution to solving his problems.

With the time available, Moon rushed over to her fallen partner. She picked up Gurren out of the ironic crater he was in. The vibrantly pink body was now dimmed.

Moon's eyes fell to the ground. Even though Tristan's Pokémon might've been stronger inherently, she was still failing to deliver commands that would properly address the situation.

Her bangs suddenly flew as she shook her head rapidly. 'No! I can do this!'

Retrieving Gurren, Moon stood back up and sent Lyle back out into the battle.

"I know you're a little hurt, but I'm positive that you can do this." The trainer's voice was a little soft, which didn't bode well for her Pokémon's confidence.

"Alright, use dragon hammer!" Yelled Tristan eagerly.

"Dodge!"

Exeggutor's heads flew down greatly and almost crushed Lyle. Luckily, the sniper owl was able to use his wings to produce enough force to dart away. The shock of his opponent's attack also created more push.

Moon flinched and gritted her teeth. 'This kid is crazy. All he does is use attacks that really hit hard.'

After that thought, her expression perked up with surprise. Sun also spotted his mood change and leaned in forward a little.

"Use feather dance," said Moon while still retaining her excited expression.

Lyle zipped over Exeggutor's main heads before they could get up. He flapped his wings harder than was necessary to sustain his aerial position. The falling feathers produced a sense of relaxation in the larger grass type, diminishing their fighting prowess.

A smirk flashed onto Moon's face. Her plan would make it much easier to deal with Tristan's heavy hitters.

"No! Use brutal swing!" The young child jumped when he saw that Exeggutor's eyelids were drooping.

"Lyle, use acrobatics!" Moon's confident smirk fell when she noticed that Lyle couldn't maneuver fast enough away from the attack.

A lack of feathers left the Decidueye practically helpless as he was slammed by the sturdy trunk of Exeggutor. Lyle slammed into the ground and passed out.

Sun slowly leaned back onto the boulder, his lips pulled into a small frown.

 _"She didn't think that through all the way,"_ noted Rotom. Fiery eyes and a wrinkled frown from Moon tried to burn into the critical Pokémon.

Being scared by that expression, Rotom hid behind Sun. The latter just turned his head over.

"She had a good idea, but didn't consider what would happen afterward," said the Champion.

That statement didn't evade Moon's ears. The girl's eyes lessened from anger, replaced by some sadness. Sun had done little yet to prove himself as a more effective trainer than her, but he had pointed out her faults perfectly.

Moon still had a feeling that somewhere in her lay the great prowess of an experienced trainer. However, there was little memory that could prove it. She closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows.

The criticism, humiliation, and amnesia felt demoralizing. It was as if everything was slowly being robbed from her.

'I want to cry so much. I just can't, not-' The girl suddenly opened her eyes and looked down to Lyle.

Moon loosened her shoulders and took a deep breath. She pulled out Lyle's Pokeball and retrieved him.

 _"D-did something change about her?"_ Asked Rotom.

"Maybe." Sun leaned forward again and smiled. "Let's find out."

Moon reached into her watermelon decorated bag and pulled out two plain pokeballs. She glanced between the two, black eyebrows hanging low.

Her decision was made with the right pokeball being placed back into the bag. The girl took a deep breath.

"Alright. Go, Ace!"

Sun could only blink while maintaining a smile. The orange puppy jumped out and ran towards Exeggutor. He stopped 11 feet away.

Such a stark difference in height made it difficult for Exeggutor to see Ace from so high up.

"Are you serious? There's no way that little guy will work," said Tristan with sagging shoulders.

'You're not so tall yourself,' thought Sun. Although he was surprised at what his student's final choice was, he understood that a battle is not over until the last second. 'But what're you planning, Moon?'

The girl gave no response to her opponent's comment. She kept her eyes focused on the two Pokémon and her lips straight.

"Fine! If you're not gonna say anything then!" Tristan looked up to his Exeggutor and placed his hands around his mouth. "Hit him with dragon hammer!"

"Ace, go in!" Moon's voice was loud and swift, sending her orange puppy into a sprint.

Exeggutor was nonchalant to the command and only sent the massive trunk careening towards the ground. The moment became more tense as the Pokémon's distance to the ground became less.

"Your right! Flame wheel!"

With the few seconds available, the Growlithe received, understood, and acted on his trainers orders.

He moved slightly to the right and curled into a ball. Flames ignited around his orange body, and he spun rapidly.

Exeggutor's bulk slammed into the ground with a small shockwave before Ace rammed into it.

"All right! It worked!" Moon jumped with happiness at the success.

"Woah! That was amazing!" Said Tristan. "But we're not done yet, right Exeggutor?"

A proclamation like that, full of determination in spite of a failure, was impressive. However, the Pokémon being questioned didn't really respond. Even the head on the tail remained motionless with swirls in its eyes.

'Ace defeated them in one hit?' Moon gawked at the surprising turn of events.

 _"Lookzz like she'zzz getting the hang of it,"_ implied Rotom after a few seconds.

"Well, I think that Exeggutor actually went down because of so much recoil," replied Sun. "But that was a good idea that she had."

Ace ran closer to his trainer to assume a more neutral position on the battle field. At this point, he was Moon's last Pokémon and Tristan was also down to his last.

'I've done a good job of figuring out ways around this kid's Pokemon.' She glanced over to said child, who was retrieving his fallen partner. 'But Ace is like a baby in comparison to the Pokémon he's picking.'

All the irony aside, Moon's chances of winning were all riding on Ace and her tactical thinking.

Tristan glowered at her for a moment and then turned to her Growlithe.

"No way a Growlithe is that fast on its own."

A wrinkle formed on Moon's forehead. "Ace is perfectly normal, you're just not doing good enough."

The younger trainer only frowned. This didn't help Moon to see him as any more of a mature competitor.

"Fine, if that's how it is, then this next guy will certainly win!" Tristan tossed the ultra ball which contained his last Pokémon.

Out of the ball came a red and yellow creature with an egg-shaped body, hands shaped like gun barrels (not that anyone there would know what that would look like), shoulders like looked like flames, and a face that bore an odd resemblance to a duck. The Blast Pokémon, Magmortar.

Upon entering the arena, Magmortar looked down to Ace with sullen eyes and a goofy grin.

 _"Woah! I don't think I've ever seen one around here before,"_ said Rotom.

Magbys and Magmars were commodities around Wela Volcano Park, but their evolution was only ever found around trainers. That was for good reason.

Magmortar's arms exhibited such high heat that most Pokémon, fire types included, struggled in battles against it. The air around the Blast Pokémon was even distorting slightly. Sun took note of that.

"I'm not sure that Moon can do this," muttered the boy.

 _"You don't believe in her?"_

"She can think of a few clever strategies, but Magmortar is steaming with heat. Attacking that with fire would be difficult and approaching it would be dangerous," explained Sun.

"Ace, use fire fang!" Both Sun and Rotom turned over to Moon, who was gritting her teeth after he command.

Her Growlithe leapt forward and sank his ignited fangs into Magmortar's rounded body. Unfortunately, the larger Pokémon remained unharmed; it didn't even flinch.

Moon took that action for it. 'I thought that would at least do something!'

A laugh reverberated from Tristan. He rigorously pointed a finger towards Moon.

"You should've given up! There's no way that you can win now!" He turned over to his Pokémon. "Magmortar, use psychic!"

A blue glint appeared in the Blast Pokémon's eyes and Ace was removed by a psychokinetic force. He was then assaulted by psychic energy before falling to the ground.

Ace struggled for a moment to stand up. Moon kept her eyes up.

"Attack with aerial ace!" Summoning any energy that he had left, the fire puppy jumped up and slashed the fire duck in the face.

The fully evolved Pokémon stumbled for a moment. Aerial ace's perfect accuracy was a slight shock. Despite the small advantage, Magmortar retained its goofy grin.

Moon and Ace gritted their teeth. The latter sprinted ahead and formed a flame wheel around his body. His trainer extended her hand unconsciously. Her fingers closed a little when she realized what her Pokémon was aiming for.

"Magmortar, use lava plume!" Yelled Tristan. His Pokémon obliged, lifting up his left arm before sending out an explosion of magma.

Ace didn't dodge because he was too close to the attack; he was completely swallowed by it. The ferocity of the lava was so great because Magmortar had so much stamina remaining.

Watching with patient eyes, Sun dwelled on the thought of how Moon was. An attack of that caliber would inflict enough damage to do Ace in, but it would inflict a lot of emotional damage to his trainer as well.

'She tried so hard.' He glanced away from the pile of molten rock to see that his friend had yet to falter.

Her eyes were still held up to the battlefield.

"Ace, use flame wheel!"

Suddenly the magma burst as a crimson fire ball emerged. Everyone, especially Magmortar, was astonished at this instant change.

As it would turn out, Ace's ability was actually flash fire. No fire type attack could hurt him. They would have the opposite effect of making his fire even stronger. Magmortar learned that lesson as Ace collided into him.

The eyes of the Blast Pokémon bulged out as he was sent flying into the nearby beach. Flame wheel continued to drive into him until he hit the water and sank. Ace was pushed back onto the beach by the ricochet and dismounted safely.

Tristan pulled out his Pokeball quickly in an attempt to retrieve Magmortar, but he ended up fumbling the device. That stopped when Sun caught it and pointed toward the water.

"Magmortar, return!" The few seconds that it took for the red beam to hit the water and return confirmed Magmortar's defeat.

"Thanks, but we need to continue the battle!" Proclaimed Tristan vicariously.

Moon flinched as Ace returned to her side, she furrowed down her eyebrows and dropped her jaw. 'That Pokémon can still fight on?'

"No can do, the match is over," answered Sun as he handed the Pokeball back to Tristan.

"Eh?" Moon's comment beckoned Sun to turn his head over to her.

"Ace absorbed a lot from lava plume and sent it back to Magmortar. That may not have been enough to beat him, but the water probably cooled him down so much that he can't battle."

Magmortar may be able to exhibit extreme temperatures, but even he would have problems in the water.

However, Tristan had trouble believing that. He tossed the Pokeball, releasing Magmortar back into the battlefield. The Blast Pokémon stood tall with a powerful and stern expression.

"Oh, come on! That guy can still fight?" Complained Moon.

Magmortar then collapsed to the ground almost instantly. Both Ace and his trainer paused for a moment before falling on their butts. Sun sighed before turning over to Tristan.

"I told you." He reached behind him and sent his Wishiwashi into the water. "Wawi, can you use hydro pump on that lava?"

A nod confirmed that before the small fry gathered others like it and formed a school. They shot a massive amount of water which cooled the lava until it blackened and fell apart.

Although he managed to put up a good fight, Tristan crossed his arms and looked away.

"Come on, you can't win all of them," said Sun, turning over to the pouting child.

"Yeah, but you always win."

The argument was easy for Moon to hear while she was using a hyper potion to heal Ace. Winning made her feel good, but her opponent's poor sportsmanship was making her a little upset.

With a Pokeball in hand, she retrieved her Growlithe before walking over to the boys.

Sun raised his hand towards his friend and shook his head.

"Moon won because she battled alongside Pokémon that she trusts," stated Sun, causing Moon's eyebrows to perk up. "Having a good bond with your partners in battle makes it easy to get around all sorts of problems."

That speech actually got to Tristan. He loosened up a little and glanced towards the older trainers.

"But I trust these Pokémon, they've been with my older sister for a really long time," retorted the youngster.

Sun sighed and scratched the back of his head. "That's good, but you need to bond with your Pokémon much more. That means that you will lose sometimes."

Something clicked in Moon when her teacher said that.

'We did get stronger after losing to Sun,' thought to girl. The Champion was now much more mature to her.

"I get it! We'll get stronger after losing to you!" Yelled Tristan, returning to his prior vigorous form.

"No, what I meant was-"

"Alright, we'll battle you again another time! See you later!"

Tristan then bolted away from the scene, leaving a baffled duo behind.

"T-that kid is weird," said Moon.

Sun sighed as his forehead met the palm of his hand.

"Tell me about it."

…

Gladion stared up to the glass ceiling of Aether Paradise. It had been a few days since his last battle with Sun. Bod was likely nowhere near ready to shatter it's helmet yet, but it was well on its way to a healthy bond with its trainer.

Green eyes glanced over to a Starmie resting alongside some Corsola. For a moment, the boy thought that it was an altruistic defense from the coral to the star.

'Protecting others.' His vision returned to the glass ceiling and the blue sky beyond it.

"Mr. Rayharte?"

Gladion swiftly turned to his right. His guest was a man with an impressively wide, blue mustache and a white jumpsuit.

"You're younger than I expected."

"I get that a lot." The young president approached the odd man. "Now, what was it that you wanted to discuss?"

A wide, almost wicked, grin stretched under the blue mustache.

"I would like you to share whatever data you have on the creatures you call Ultra Beasts."

…

Walking up the rigid and tough road of Route 12 was normally as arduous as it was lacking green. However, it was of little hindrance to Moon. She and Sun were walking along the trail back to Malie City to catch the next ferry back to Melemele island.

Except for a few grunts along the rough road the trip was silent. Turning his head around, Sun opted to break said silence.

"Are you alright?"

"Eh? Yeah, I'm good," answered Moon quickly.

"You've been quiet for a little while now," noted Sun, ignoring his own lack of conversational contribution.

"Uh...well..." She stopped for a moment and sighed. "...Thank you."

The Champion cocked his head to the right a little in response. "For what?"

Moon didn't answer immediately. She turned towards the ocean and looked out a the big great blue. Ironically, she appeared to be reminiscing despite her current mental state.

"You put me that battle and it helped me to become stronger with my Pokémon." A pair of gray eyes met with another. "You taught me an important lesson today. Winning isn't everything.

It was then Sun's turn to be caught speechless. He grabbed his hat and tried to straighten it out.

"Well...I'm glad I could help. Even when I didn't completely believe in you-"

"Wait, you didn't think I would win?" Moon's voice started to raise in volume and pitch.

"Well, you did make a few mistakes and-"

"You were the one who told me not to call upon Nebby!" Now she was completely facing Sun.

"Hold on, I didn't mean any of that in a really mean way," said Sun as he frantically waved his arms in defense. Rotom silently flew out of his backpack.

 _"Sun, the grozzery store clozzezz at 5,"_ said the Pokémon, halting Moon's anger slightly. Sun turned his attention towards Rotom to avoid Moon.

"Yeah? What about it?" A clock appeared on Rotom's screen; the time was already 4:45.

A gasp escaped from the boy and he grabbed the tip of his head. Much more time had elapsed than he anticipated.

"Moon!"

The girl was thrown off by the desperate crack in her friend's voice.

"What?"

"Come on, hurry! We have to go now!"

"Why?"

"Mom will be Z angry if we don't come back with the groceries! It's like a Bewear that's actually trying to hurt you!"

The haunting image of a Bewear looming over caught the girl in a petrified state. She could clearly sense Sun's fear by the terrified expression on his face. The two of them then started running with Rotom following close behind.

Although the day presented a great challenge for Moon and her Pokémon, they were rewarded for such efforts. The former now had more reason to see Alola's Champion as a good teacher as well.

* * *

Thank you so much for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. I am so sorry that this took so long to write. I have been dealing with a lot of life issues that have been making this hard to write. However, I now believe that I am back to good writing condition.

Again, thank you so much to the people who have been patiently waiting for this story to be updated. Please favorite, follow, and/or leave a review!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. Otherwise, I would've gotten the last chapter done faster.

"Speech"

'Thought'

* * *

"Alright! Maggie use psybeam!" Said Sun. The Mismagius focused energy towards the rim of her hat and fired.

Her target, a Fearow, took the blast before diving down to her. Maggie moved out of the way, understanding that it is what Sun would've said, but Fearow gave chase with the few feet available.

The pursuit attack had type advantage, but Maggie's great experience allowed her to ignore most of the pain inflicted.

"Hit him with payback!" Said Sun.

It was now the ghost type's turn to utilize the proximity between her and Fearow. She charged the tip of her hat into the bird and inflicted massive damage.

In desperate fear, Fearow fled from the battle. Sun frowned at that action.

"Could've at least stuck it through till the end, it wasn't like you were gonna die." He turned all the way around. "How are you doing, Moon?"

The girl in question was participating in a Pokémon battle of her own. She had sent out Kale to battle against a Beldum.

"Use thunderbolt, Kale!" Ordered Moon loudly. Her Buneary rubbed the tips of her ears together quickly, generating an electric charge that was directed towards the iron ball Pokémon.

Beldum only drooped a little from that attack. It regained its antigravity before charging in with a take down.

"Dodge!" Despite the Buneary's large ears, she didn't hear her trainer's command. "Kale!"

Flipping her head backwards, the rabbit pulled herself back. Kale forward flipped before using her ears to push up and out of Beldum's path.

The psychic steel type crashed into the ground and remained there for a few seconds. Recoil from take down was costly, but it would have to do since Beldum was incapable of learning any other move.

Kale landed a few feet away from her opponent and facing towards her trainer as a result of the position change.

Beldum repeated its only task of take down.

"Kale, use jump kick!" Said Moon. She saw that the direct charge from the iron Pokémon would have a greater guarantee of landing a hit.

Her Pokémon charged forward and jumped. With her left foot extended, she collided into Beldum's center eye.

The iron ball Pokémon was launched back with significant force.

Moon's eyes widened and she fell down to her right, just barely missing Beldum as it flew off. The girl placed her hand over her chest as her heart rate slowed. Kale slowly approached her while avoiding eye contact.

"I...guess we need...to work on coordination," said the trainer, to which her Pokémon nodded slowly.

Sun walked over after Moon had calmed down. 'That wasn't a bad idea, but it could be better.'

"Do you think we can take a break from training right now?" Asked the girl while getting back up. Sun just nodded. They had been training with their Pokémon for about 30 minutes at the time.

Both Sun and Moon sat down to relax and enjoy the view. Mt. Hokulani wasn't the tallest mountain in Alola, but it still gave a good view of Ula Ula Island. It was certainly a view that even a Champion could enjoy.

As she looked down to the coastline, Moon placed her hand up to her forehead.

'Something about that...It looks familiar,' thought the girl.

"Are you ok?" Moon turned over to Sun.

"Yeah. I just thought that something about that looked familiar," answered the girl as she pointed down to the southern beach. She closed her eyes for a moment to concentrate on that sensation. "I've been down there before. While riding on a Pokémon."

"That's not really helpful."

"That's all I've got."

Sun's eyebrow twitched a little while Moon rubbed her forehead. Few methods existed to properly deal with amnesia, so he would have to take what was available.

Something caught the boy's eye while he was watching his friend, her black z-Ring. The scarcity of that type started to register in his mind. Most z-rings were white with the only exception being the one that Nanu used.

"Is there any chance that you trained with Nanu?" Inquired Sun. Moon ceased her concentration and raised her eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Nanu, the Kahuna of this island." His explanation did little to shed light for Moon.

"Red eyes, old man, police officer, always slouching forward?" The only answer was a shrug of the shoulders.

"Why do you ask? You think he might know me?"

"Maybe, but I was thinking about your z-ring. It's a little weird that it's black." Sun leaned over and pointed to the wristband while he explained.

Curiously, Moon averted her eyes toward it as well. Her fingers flexed as she gazed at the black sheen. This had always undoubtedly been hers, in spite of her memory to show for it.

"Does he have one like this too?" Sun nodded.

"Yeah. He's the only other guy that I've seen with one."

Eyebrows furrowed slightly and Moon's brown eyes darted to the ground. She searched her memory for anything helpful. Nothing came to her initially. She closed her eyes once more to concentrate and even grasped the z-ring with her other hand in an attempt towards better focus.

Episodic memory of her ebony ring's state eluded her for the moment. The only recollection that Moon could retrieve was that it wasn't always like this.

"Mine...might've been white like yours, but I can't remember what happened to make it like this," said the girl.

Another session of partially answered questions came by for the duo. However, Sun had one more thing to inquire.

"You haven't used any z-crystals since we've met. Do you remember how to use those?"

"Well, I don't actually have any right now. I know that I have them somewhere."

Sun cocked an eyebrow. It was too convenient that Moon wasn't carrying her z-crystals when she was attacked by the blue Necrozma.

Naturally he wanted to find out more, but stopped himself when he noticed his friend's lowered eyebrows and averted eyes.

"Hey, don't worry about it," reassured the boy. "I'm sure we'll find something soon enough."

A small chuckle and tilt of the head was offered in return. Working with Moon when she was moody was a difficult task for the 12 year old boy. He turned his head to ponder something to remedy the situation.

"I've got an idea," said Sun while he was looking toward the sky.

"You want to battle again?" Asked the girl nonchalantly.

"Nope." Sun pushed himself off the ground and dusted his legs. "Let's go get you started on an Island Trial!"

Moon perked a little from that suggestion. Questioned eyes met with confident ones as she turned her line of sight. There were the benefits of growing stronger and possibly recovering her memories, so she got up off the ground to learn more.

"Ok. Where should we go?" Sun pointed over to the Hokulani Observatory. "That's a place where they hold trials?"

Sun nodded while maintaining his optimism. Such a sensation wasn't refused, but Moon had a little difficulty replicating it to the same degree as him.

The pair made their way into the metal building. The interior remained in its perpetual state of littered untidiness. Boxes were strewn about the floor, scientists walking about, and Pokémon casually enjoyed their day.

"It does feel like a place where a trial would be held, even if I don't know anything about it," noted Moon.

"Yeah. I had to answer questions in the dark with Sophocles while we waited for the Totem Pokémon to arrive," said Sun. He got a raised eyebrow and small frown from his friend.

"It probably isn't a good idea to tell me that before I go in," retorted the girl.

There was little dishonesty in telling somebody else what the basic format of a trial. Moon would struggle to learn if she didn't participate with inexperience.

Sun found himself scratching the back of his head while those facts hit him.

"W-well, you've got me there. But the trial broke down and Sophocles has probably fixed it by now!"

"Heh. He is smart in that way, isn't he?" Inquired Moon with a small yet relaxed smile.

A nod signaled Sun's agreement before both kids stopped. Their eyes grew and their jaws dropped simultaneously as the reality of what happened hit them. The boy slowly turned around like a rusted mechanism.

"I thought you said that you didn't know anything about this place." A hand slowly raised towards Moon's mouth.

"I-I didn't...but I suddenly remembered Sophocles." Her head jerked back for a moment. "He's an inventor, works with electric type-Pokémon, and has an uncle named Moe! I remember them!"

"Yes! That's right!" Sun jumped in the air as if he had aced an exam that he didn't study for.

The children seized the enthusiasm of the moment and lunged towards Sophocles's lab. The uncovered information was few, but it was enough to stir hope and breed action.

* * *

Well...I have no excuse for any of this. It has been very difficult to write lately due to a lack of interest from myself and others. I think it would be overall easier to write smaller chapters to save time. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I am too busy playing Smash right now...and Kingdom Hearts...and reading books.

"Speech"

'Thought'

* * *

Sun rushed into Sophocles's lab with the automatic doors only having a second to spare. He was invigorated by any possible way that he could connect the boy genius to Moon.

A metal object was right in front of him as he entered, which he crashed head on into.

"Oh no, Sun!" Moon came up right behind her friend as he comedically fell backwards to the ground.

"Woah, sorry about that!" Molayne popped up from the other side of the machine. He pushed said device out of the way as it was being suspended from the ceiling with bungie cords. "Nobody runs into the facility that fast, so I didn't expect anyone to hit this."

The fault fell to Sun for the injury since he was being so brash. He kept his composure as he stood up and held his bruised face.

"It's alright. We just need to talk to..." The boy looked around the room to see that it was devoid of the very person he was looking for. "Where is Sophocles?"

The swift and unexpected changes from Sun made Molayne a little confused. He just blinked and took a moment to adjust his glasses. His speed to answering the question was a little perplexing to his guests.

"Hmm...oh, that's right! Sophocles is out of Alola right now." If Molayne had been listening carefully he would've heard hearts cracking.

"What?! Where is he then?!" Asked Moon as she rushed forward with her fists held up and her eyes big.

The scientist took a step back and his glasses became crooked. "He's meeting with another person from Kalos. Something about a lesson on mechanics."

Only Moon's eyes blinked and her shoulders tensed up a little. She turned around towards Sun for any explanation and was surprised when she saw his unblinking eyes. For a moment, she saw that he was unconscious.

"But...that's practically...on the other side of the world," muttered boy slowly.

The color drained from Moon's face along with the rest of her body. She started to feel her energy fall straight down. Yet again, a small glimmer of hope was buried.

However, a small ember sparked from the dirt, lighting Moon's mind. The girl turned back towards Molayne.

"This might be a little odd, but do you know me?" Inquired the girl. Molayne raised an eyebrow in slight confusion, prompting Sun to explain.

"This is Moon. She has amnesia, but she remembers Sophocles and you."

Molayne did possess knowledge of the effects pertaining to amnesia, but he was not immune to the surprise about Moon's. He was put into a metaphorical spotlight upon learning that she remembered him.

Scratching his tan hair, he tried to pull together some memory of who this girl was. Some of her features were notable. However, he struggled to perfectly verbalize it.

"You do seem familiar, but I can't put my finger on it," answered Molayne as he leaned forward.

"Really? Nothing?"

"Well...your hat is...distinct."

A great sigh escaped from Moon as she leaned her head back. Always within grasp, but also out of reach. Sun shared some of that crippling truth.

"You're sure?" Said the boy, attempting to pry more. "Maybe she came her to do the trial before?"

Molayne glanced back at his device for a bit, as if it would give him any additional information. He returned his line of vision to Sun while still maintaining a neutral expression.

"Perhaps, but Sophocles would know that before I do. His memory outdoes mine."

It was difficult for Sun to admit that he was suffering from the same defeat as Moon at the moment, though he did a better job of reserving his expression.

The departure of his friend was more intriguing at the moment to him, however, given that he had heard nothing of it till this moment. Sun's eyebrows furrowed for a moment as he dwelled on it.

'Maybe I was just being too busy being Champion,' concluded the boy quickly.

Being absent from his friend's life left a sour taste in Sun's mouth. There was little he could've done, though, as he remembered that he needed to be there for Moon and his duties. That memory led to another concerning his earlier notion.

"Can we do a trial even if Sophocles isn't here?" Suggested Sun.

"Well, maybe…the Vikavolt and Charjabug don't really listen to me as well as they do to Sophocles," explained Molayne with shrugged shoulders.

Another obstacle made Sun want to protest about fairness, but he couldn't deny the fact of type specialty. The focus that Sophocles placed on electric type Pokemon created great synergy with his hobby of tinkering.

Molayne's experience and interest with steel types was certainly useful for supporting his nephew, but hindering for the situation at hand.

Moon pondered about it for a few moments one what they could possibly do when she noticed a tiny Togedamaru waddling through the lab.

"Is that little guy yours?" Asked the girl as she raised her finger. Moe turned around to satiate his curiosity and chuckled a little bit.

"No. Well, not mine alone. He is part of the facility staff here." The lanky man walked over and picked up the Togedamaru. "Most of them are trained more by Sophocles than anyone else."

Sun repeated Moon's action of pointing. "And what about this thing. What are you working on with this?"

Said device was large, easily half the size of body builder and likely triple the weight. It was made strangely in the shape of a Vikavolt. The only main difference from the Pokemon is that the pincers ended with orbs as opposed to sharp edges. It was likely that their purpose was transferring electricity.

Molayne walked up and placed his hand on the machine slowly. "Sophocles and I are trying to come up with a new method for summoning the Totem Pokemon. We found that the previous method wasn't completely reliable."

A small twitch came from Sun's cheek as he recalled irritating memories. He wouldn't figure out how many people struggled through that and didn't want to either.

Looking at the machine did give him an idea, however.

"Why don't we test it right now?" Inquired the young boy, catching Moon's attention.

"I thought we were gonna find a trial for me to do."

"We can't really have a trial without Sophocles. How about we do a fake trial?" Suggested Sun. Using that certain adjective didn't make Moon feel any better about her current situation.

Molayne scratched the side of his head. The conductor was almost complete, so a test run would be helpful. There would always be detriments towards random experimentation, though.

Security was only slightly guaranteed in the situation; Sun may've been the strongest trainer in Alola, but he was still just a child. A short circuit could easily result in some problems, despite the fact that Molayne was certain of his engineering skills.

The scale was heavy on both sides.

"Hmm...no. Sorry," said the engineer. His answer garnered a twitches and jumping eyebrows from the children.

"Come on, why not?" Asked Sun, to which Molayne turned back to the machine.

"The voltage output is not properly measured yet. For all we know, it could black out all of Ula Ula."

Being given that revelation made Sun think back to his trial again. Sophocles early prototype was enough to short out the facility, so there was even more of a problem with the potential successor if it was more powerful. He glanced over to the machine as he mulled it over.

'Maybe we shouldn't. All that energy could cause a huge explosion.' Suddenly, Sun's eyes opened wide.

Reaching onto his belt, the young trainer pulled out a pokeball and tossed it. His Vikavolt emerged from it and landed on the floor. Moon and Molayne turned their attention over to this new arrival.

"Hey, Charlie, you like to eat electricity, right?" Inquired Sun, which his Pokémon affirmed with a nod. "So, Mr. Moe, can we do the trial now? Charlie could eat the electric energy if it becomes too much."

"That's not a bad idea, Sun. I guess you became Champion of the region for more than one reason."

Moon chuckled a little after hearing that, but she wouldn't refuse the fact that she was grateful to Sun right now. A chance to obtain more experience was always a gracious one.

"Alright. The trial will involve puzzle-solving skills, do you think you are up for that?" Moon nodded. "Good. If you wait here then I'll get some employees to help set up the equipment."

"Sounds good to me. Sun, you should help them too," said Moon cheerfully, causing her teacher to twitch.

"No thank you."

"Awe, come on! Don't you want to help me get better and stronger with Pokémon?"

Sun couldn't avert his eyes from Moon's gesture of held fists and big eyes.

"Well...yeah. But I'm gonna be working with Charlie," argued the boy weakly.

"I'm pretty sure your Vikavolt could figure out when to step in," noted Molayne while he was still in the room. Sun gritted his teeth in defeat. Arguing against somebody as smart and experienced as that man wasn't going to guarantee any success.

He reluctantly walked out of the room with the former trial captain. Only Moon and Charlie were leftover.

Looking around the room, the girl couldn't ignore the fact that the device for the trial bore a striking resemblance to Charlie. She walked over to it and pressed her hands against it.

Despite Molayne claiming it to be unfinished, there were unusual sounds or vibrations coming from it at all.

"It's funny how much it looks like you, Charlie," noted the girl as she turned her attention back to the Vikavolt, whose eyes only pointed to her for acknowledgement.

'I guess that he's not very talkative when Sun's not around,' rationalized Moon.

Roughly fifteen minutes passed as Molayne, Sun, and several employees brought in a large table, nine Charjabugs, and moved the pinger to the edge of the room. It was now facing towards an open purple dome.

"Thanks for helping out," said Molayne.

"Your welcome," said Sun in return.

"I was actually talking more to Moon. Her experimental trial will give us a good amount of information," explained the engineer. "But thank you too, Sun."

The young Champion gritted his teeth slightly as another answer. Moon couldn't restrain a chuckle.

"Don't worry, it'll make you stronger like a man."

"If that's the case, I should've gotten you to help lift." Understandably he got a tongue stuck out at him.

"Well back to the matter at hand," said Molayne slowly. "Instead of creating a sound to attract the Totem Pokémon, you'll have to create a concentrated source of electricity to do the job."

Sun's right eyebrow perked up when he heard that. He thought that a certain sound would work better than just electricity. However, he understood that the employees at the observatory were much smarter than him.

"Wouldn't the noise work better?" Asked Moon with her hand raised. Surprise jumped on Sun's face.

"Perhaps, but the electric current will draw other Pokémon near as well. This way you can test your awareness of the environment in addition to your puzzle skills."

Like her teacher had resolved to, Moon decided that it wasn't best to question the one with the superior intelligence. In spite of that, though, she straightened her shoulders upon learning that other Pokémon would be approaching the area.

One on one battles were already challenging enough for the amnesiac trainer. Having to juggle those in addition to a Totem Pokémon appeared like a nightmare.

'If it gets too bad, I might have to call out Nebby,' thought the girl for a moment.

"What you'll need to do is align the Charjabug to form a current on the table." Molayne elaborated by walking over to the table where three of the battery bugs were.

The table had nine panels arranged like a number pad and one large, blue button on each corner. Molayne pressed down on the button and four tiles shifted in different directions.

"Each button press will cause a counter clockwise turn."

"So, like in the direction of a clock?" Said Sun.

"No, baka, it's the way opposite that a clock moves," retorted Moon.

"It seems you understand well enough." Molayne picked up three Charjabug from the floor and placed them on the 8th, 9th, and 6th tiles. "First, get these guys to form a line with the top."

Walking over, Moon closed her teeth and smiled. She pushed the upper left button and moved to the corresponding right one before pressing it as well. A complete line of three was formed, and the Charjabug were slid between the two buttons.

The electric bugs formed a current from and through each other. The pinger flared to life and shot the electricity into the dome.

"Well that was easy," noted Moon with satisfaction.

"Uh, Moon? It's not over yet," said Sun with his arms behind his head. His friend turned to him for elaboration which he answered to by pointing behind him.

A Magnemite slipped into the room and was bobbing up and down slowly towards the pinger. The content eye suddenly dilated and Magnemite sped up to Moon. A sense of urgency jolted up her back.

Moon took a step back and a breath in. She pulled out a plain pokeball and sent out Ace.

"Use flame wheel!" Said the girl, increasing her tone's volume.

The Growlithe leapt forward, circling around into a ball of fire, and slammed into the Magnemite.

The tip of Magnemite's screw sparked before electricity shot out from it. Thunder shock wasn't inflicting great damage, but enough to prevent the fire pup from moving.

Moon unconsciously placed her arms in front of her face and squinted her eyes. The heat reminded her of the battle against Tristan. Her eyes narrowed and her arms lowered.

"Fire fang!"

Ace struggled as he pushed against the electric attack. It quickly dissipated and he bit into Magnemite, denting the metal slightly. The wild Pokemon quickly vibrated in retaliation at the pain. Its efforts only succeeded in causing it more pain, though.

Once the fire puppy loosened his grip his opponent was too weak to generate electricity and was open to attack.

"Ace, finish it with another flame wheel," said Moon as she pointed her finger. Her partner leapt forward, ignited into a fire disk, and sent Magnemite flying into a nearby wall with a slam.

Moon rushed over and picked up Ace for a hug. "Yes! That was amazing!"

The Magnemite regained some energy and floated out of the room. That movement didn't go unnoticed by the victors.

"Is it gonna be ok?" Moon turned her attention to Molayne, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Pokémon usually regain their energy with enough time. Here they go to powerplant at the base of the mountain when they really need it."

That answer stuck with Sun. It never really concerned him that Sophocles showed no concern for the Pokémon that got injured in the observatory, but it made sense that they were essentially wild.

'I guess you can't worry about everything.' Sun turned over to Moon. "You should put Ace back into his pokeball."

Moon backed her head a little after being told that. Her cheek tensed up and eyebrows furrowed immediately following.

"He might give you a little too much help in the next part of the trial," explained the boy.

"Really, how many more times do I have to do this?" Asked the girl as she cocked her head.

"At least once more," answered Molayne.

Taking the easier route was Moon's immediate desire at that point, but she agreed with what Sun's decision. Growlithes as Pokémon were loyal and strong on the battlefield and incredibly helpful outside of it.

She set her fire puppy on the ground. He looked up with big eyes as she pulled out his pokeball. Those cute eyes were assured with soft ones.

'Its good to know that I have you and everybody else.'

* * *

Thanks for reading this chapter. I hope you liked it! Right now, I am more concerned with getting the chapters out rather than making it complete significant scenes one at a time. My goal is to finish this before Sword and Shield (which is gonna be awesome!)

If you have anything to say about this, please leave me a review. Favorite and follow please!


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